If You Do, If You Don't
by Lemland
Summary: When you've been alone for almost 800 years, you're bound to develop some abandonment issues.


**Author's Note:** An OC-centric story featuring my character, an android named Andizan, and her moment of clarity when she realizes she is no longer alone and that the humans have returned to Earth. The title is taken from the song "If You Do, If You Don't" by Cartel, which is a song dedicated to her by her very closest friend in her universe's canon. In case you are wondering, I chose the location based on the weather that was going on in the movie. IE, sand storms, hot dusty conditions, etc. There will be various references in this to other things, including an easter egg for you Hitchhiker's Guide fans. I chose to have this story take lace 150 years after the landing of the Axiom on Earth, based upon the fact that, if one pays close attention to the dates the captains lead on the ship, they lead for at least a century or more, so I assume based on this fact, that humans in Wall-E have significantly longer life spans than the average human being.

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the concept of Ann, however, I cling to her fiercely. She is completely and utterly mine, sprung from my own mind, steal her and I eat your face off.

Date Began: 6/4/10

The rusted cube bounded contently over the dusty landscape somewhere in the vicinity of what had been known as the Mojave desert, around seven hundred years ago. Of course, the small 'bot had no way of knowing this, and even if it had, the knowledge would go unheeded. To him, to Wall-E, locations weren't things that required grandiose names and titles and the like, they were things to be described based on memories and experiences. Some of his favorite locations were the places known in his mind as "place where EVE showed up", "truck", "human settlement" and the like.

He traversed over the rough ground, humming contently. A moment's pause, as he glanced around for his love. She wasn't far, and he spotted her sleek, glistening form about a hundred yards off, tagging a local cactus species and collecting samples. Wall-E adored it when EVE would allow him to accompany her on field work. Not only was he able to spend more time with the center of his Universe, but different areas of the globe allowed him to collect interesting trinkets he had been unable to find locally, being of limited mobility. Unlike she, he was unable to fly.

He paused, examining the small rusted-out shell of a toy car. He lifted it from the caked earth and shook it out, causing a small cloud of rocks to fall, then spun one of the wheels with a flat shovel-like-finger. The motion caused him to giggle, the sound rasped and wheezing from his ancient speakers, abused further from the lack of programming to produce such a sound in the first place. He placed the car in his cooler and headed toward EVE, waving his hand and calling out her name. "Eee..._vah_!"

The white EVE probe turned at the sound of his call, her eyes shrinking into crescents of happiness as she zipped over to the tiny 'bot, hovering to a stop just in front of him. "Wall-E!" she greeted in her characteristic vocalization. Even after almost a century and a half, it was still the most beautiful sound to ever reach his auditory sensors. His own eyes tilted upward into a smile as he presented his most recent finding to her. She took it in her hand and examined it, giving a quick scan to collect data. Filtering aside the data it collected from various types of soil and microbes in the earth, she quickly identified the object itself, fetching the name from deep within her databanks.

"Caaar," she told him, annunciating it slowly so he would be able to grasp the word easier. "Cu-_haaar_?" he queried, tilting his optics slightly in a manner so adorable EVE could not resist scooping him up for a quick 'kiss'. He gave a shuddery, blissful sigh and melted into her arms, jarring back abruptly when she set him down. Cars, she knew, were used as a primary mode of transportation back before Earth became to polluted to inhabit any longer. However, her current dilemma was how she could possibly put the definition into Wall-E's terms. How do you give a textbook answer to someone to whom learning something meant to go out and feel it, experience it, see it. How does a logical-mathematical learner explain something to a kinesthetic learner? After a few moments of searching, she found a solution. Quickly seizing a dried blade of grass and a small twig, she fashioned it after the crude form of a human in her dextrous and adaptable fingers, holding it out for her lover to see. "Human," she stated as he examined it. After waiting for a nod of acknowledgment and understanding, she gingerly stuffed her little grass man into the front seat of the vehicle, set it on the ground and pushed it along. "Humans... move in cars," she explained. Wall-E gave his characteristic "Oooh..." of amazement, and EVE smiled, knowing she had successfully conveyed her meaning with him yet again, as she had countless times in the past.

Quite often, the two of them were able to communicate with nothing more than a look into one another's eyes, in terms of concerns, worries, feelings, and so on. However, things like definitions were slightly more difficult to achieve. Still, she reflected as he replaced the small vehicle in the cooler and threaded his fingers within her own, they managed to get along remarkably wonderfully.

Wall-E and EVE moved on across the rocky landscape, both stopping occasionally, the latter to collect more samples and the former simply to collect. Nobody, not even EVE, understood what made Wall-E choose a certain object but reject another. For example, once EVE had, quite excitedly, presented him with a miniature plastic sword from an ancient cocktail, however, he had found the piece quite uninteresting and looked away from it in favor of a popsicle stick, its frozen treat long-since melted away. She did not understand this aspect of him, however, far from distancing her, it made her love him even more.

At one point on their journey, he stopped abruptly, almost causing her to hover into him. "Wall-E?" she inquired concernedly, glancing over his head to discover the source of the stop. Wall-E straightened suddenly, and chirruped "Evaa!", holding his hand up to show her an incredibly tiny carving of a spider. She took it with a soft sound of awe and fascination. The tiny trinket was small, no larger than a bead or a sequin, and yet, it was full of such detail that only a robot could have carved it, or so it seemed. She had seen pictures of ancient artifacts carved by people she'd heard were called "Egyptians", and they had possessed only the crudest of tools. How in the world he had spotted it among all of the pebbles and rubble she couldn't comprehend, however, EVE had to admit it was a fascinating find.

Wall-E held his hand out to take the piece back, but EVE shook her head. "No... special," she insisted, opening up the small containment compartment initially designed to house plant specimens. She gingerly placed the spider inside, then glanced back at Wall-E. His eyes shone with unbridled devotion and love, and she picked him up. This time, however, it was he who initiated the kiss, as they reminded themselves, as they did at least a hundred times a day, how content they were together, and how grateful they were to have found one another.


End file.
